Fabric element for forming a temporary hat



May 5, 1964 C. M. BROWN FABRIC ELEMENT FOR FORMING A TEMPORARY HAT Filed Dec. 22, 1961 xg b N Q MK2 xm I I L I I www# I u l I J 'www E am 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Rt RN Uff/mima mmlm (Hr/f EL? -Eg INVENToR. Cmq/a 077i M RoW/V Arramvff May 5, 1964 c. M. BROWN 3,131,401

FABRIC ELEMENT FOR FORMING A TEMPORARY HAT Filed Dec. 22, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENToR. /Hfmarrf' /lf fPoW/v rromvif United States Patent O 3,131,401 FABRIC ELEMENT FOR FGRMING A TEMPORARY HAT Charlotte M. Brown, 647 `lackson St., Santa Clara, Calif. Filed Dec. 22, 1961, Ser. No. 161,664 4 Claims. (Cl. 2-175) This invention relates to what might be termed a temporary hat, more particularly but not necessarily for unexpected, occasional, feminine use.

Womens hats are, at best, rather inconvenient articles to pack, transport and carry, more especially when traveling, yet occasions often arise when a hat is either desirable or required. For instance, it may be unexpectedly found desirable to visit a formal restaurant or club or to enter a church and participate in a religious ceremony Where a hat would be a necessary requirement, or it may be found that the sun on a beach or in a spectators stand would make a hat highly desirable. Yet, to constantly carry a hat for possible occasional use is an exceedingly troublesome requirement.

The principal object of this invention is to provide conveniently-carried means which can be used to quickly form an attractive useful and acceptable hat whenever the use of a hat is dictated without the burdensome necessity of constantly carrying or Wearing a hat.

Another object of the invention is to provide a at, fabric strip or panel of a nature which can be conveniently rolled or folded for carrying in a hand bag or pocket, so made that, should occasion require, it can be quickly, easily, and temporarily formed into an attractive selfsupporting hat of any desired design.

Other advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the means for accomplishing the objects of the invention.

In the description, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof.

In the drawing:

FIG. l is a front face view of the improved hat forming, fabric strip or panel as used in this invention as it would appear when fully extended;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary, broken-away view of one extremity of the strip of FIG. 1 showing the various layers of fabric elements incorporated therein;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the strip of FIG. 1 assembled into a simple basic hat form; and

FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 illustrate various types of hat designs formed from the basic form of FIG. 3 as they would appear upon the head.

The improved hat forming panel is formed with elongated upper and lower fabric strips. The upper fabric strip is folded down upon itself throughout its length, as indicated at 10, to form a front upper portion 11 and a back upper portion 12. The two upper portions are stitched together at each extremity as shown by the lines of stitching 13 and a second line of stitching 14 is sewn parallel to the fold to form an upper tape tunnel 1S. An upper web tape 16 extends throughout the length of the tunnel 15 and protrudes at both extremities, as shown in FIG. l.

The lower fabric strip is folded upwardly upon itself throughout its length, as shown at 17, to form a front lower portion 18 and back lower portion 19 stitched together along the bottom fold, as Shown at 20, and at their extremities by end stitching 2.1.

An elongated, stiffening sheet 22 of rather stiif netting material, such as buckram, is positioned between the front and back lower portions 18 and 19 over the entire area of the latter portions. The stilfening sheet 22 is xedly stitched in place by the end stitching 21 and by bottom stitching and in addition by a lower fold line of stitching 23 and an upper fold line of stitching 24.

The latter fold lines of stitching are uniformly spaced between the upper and lower edges of the front and back bottom portions 13 and 19 and are parallel to the folded lower edge 1'7 of the latter.

The upper edges of the front and back lower portions 18 and 19 are inserted upwardly between the lower edges of the front and back upper portions 11 and 12 and are stitched in place by means of spaced, parallel lines of stitching 25 and 26 which form a second tunnel Z7 at the joining of the upper and lower portions to receive a lower web tape 28.

To form a hat from the strip of FIG. 1, the material is forced in relatively close gathers, as indicated at 29, on the upper tape 16 and the extremities of the tape are tied into a bow, as indicated at 30 in FIG. 3. The gathers 29 are then distributed uniformly about the circumference of the circle formed by the tied tape.

The hat is then placed upon the head and the ends of the lower tape are drawn together to encircle the head at the position it is desired to wear the hat. The lower tape 28 is then bow tied, as shown at 31, and the material is uniformly gathered along the circumference of the second tape, as illustrated at 32.

The hat will now have a conformation such as illustrated in FIG. 3 with a downwardly turned brim around its entire circumference, and when worn upon the back of the head .will produce a bonnet effect, as shown in FIG. 4. If desired, the front edge of the brim can be folded back to produce an attractive open bonnet design, as shown in FIG. 7. The stiffening sheet 22 with its fold lines of stitching 23 and 24 allow the brim to be attractively folded back and Will act to retain the desired folds.

For a different hat effect the lower tape 28 may be shortened to reduce the head band diameter of the hat so that it will rest high on the coiffure of the user to produce the more formal eifect of FIG. 5. The formal effect can be altered by turning one or both sides of the brim upwardly or by turning the front upwardly as illustrated in FIG. 6. A multitude of other designs can be quickly produced by simply altering the folds of the brim and the diameters of the gathers along the tapes.

After use, the hat can be quickly disassembled by simply pulling out the bows 30 and 31 and straightening the material along the tapes to eliminate the gathers 29 and 32. It can then be quickly and easily rolled or folded for carrying.

Any types of fabric materials may be used depending upon the intended uses. For beach and sports wear printed burlap may be used with relatively heavy buckram stilfening. For lighter uses finer materials such as silks and satins may be used and decorations of sequins, embroidery, etc., may be employed.

While a specic form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A fabric panel for use in forming a hat comprising: an upper fabric strip folded downwardly on itself medially throughout its length to form an upper front portion and an upper back portion; a lower fabric strip folded upwardly on itself medially throughout its length to form a lower front portion and a lower back portion; the lower edges of the front and back upper portions being stitched to the upper edges of the lower front and back portions to form an elongated fabric panel of double thickness; transverse seams at the ends of said panel; an upper longitudinally-extending tape tunnel; a lower longitudinally-extending tape tunnel, said tape tunnels being formed between the front and back portions by longitudinally-extending tunnel stitching extending through both the front and back portions; an upper tape in said upper tunnel; a lower tape in said lower tunnel, said tapes extending beyond the extremities of said panel; and a sheet of stifening material positioned between the lower front and back portions.

2. A fabric panel as described in claim 1 having longitudinally-extending, parallel, spaced-apart lines of stitching extending through the lower front and back portions and through said stiiening material to facilitate folding of the latter along longitudinal lines.

3. A hat comprising: an upper tape; a lower tape positioned below said upper tape; an upper strip of fabric folded over and gathered along said upper tape to form front and back portions extending downwardly upon opposite sides of said lower tape; a lower strip of fabric folded upwardly along its horizontal longitudinal center line and extending upwardly over both` sides o said lower tape to form front and back areas; a stiffening sheet stitched between the front and back areas of said lower strip, said upper and lower strips being gathered along said tapes to form convolutions therein and in said stiening sheet, the extremities of both tapes extending outwardly from the extremities of said strips, the extremities of said upper tape being tied together to form a relatively small loop to be positioned above the head of a wearer, the extremities of said lower loop being tied together to form a loop about the head of the weaver, the convolutions in said stilening sheet causing said lower strip to flare outwardly from said lower tape to frame the face of a user.

4. A hat as described in claim 3 having spaced, parallel fold lines of stitching extending longitudinally of said lower sheet to facilitate longitudinal folding thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent vUNITED STATES PATENTS 357,200 Hopkirk Feb. 8, 1887 932,968 Cuddeback Aug. 31, 1909 2,673,350 Chuck Mar. 30, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS Y 433,835 Great Britain Aug. 21, 1935 

1. A FABRIC PANEL FOR USE IN FORMING A HAT COMPRISING: AN UPPER FABRIC STRIP FOLDED DOWNWARDLY ON ITSELF MEDIALLY THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTH TO FORM AN UPPER FRONT PORTION AND AN UPPER BACK PORTION; A LOWER FABRIC STRIP FOLDED UPWARDLY ON ITSELF MEDIALLY THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTH TO FORM A LOWER FRONT PORTION AND A LOWER BACK PORTION; THE LOWER EDGES OF THE FRONT AND BACK UPPER PORTIONS BEING STITCHED TO THE UPPER EDGES OF THE LOWER FRONT AND BACK PORTIONS TO FORM AN ELONGATED FABRIC PANEL OF DOUBLE THICKNESS; TRANSVERSE SEAMS AT THE ENDS OF SAID PANEL; AN UPPER LONGITUDINALLY -EXTENDING TAPE TUNNEL; A LOWER LONGITUDINALLY-EXTENDING TAPE TUNNEL, SAID TAPE TUNNELS BEING FORMED BETWEEN THE FRONT AND BACKD PORTIONS BY LONGITUDINALLY-EXTENDING TUNNEL STITCHING EXTENDING THROUGH BOTH THE FRONT AND BACK PORTIONS; AN UPPER TAPE IN SAID UPPER TUNNEL; A LOWER TAPE IN SAID LOWER TUNNEL; SAID TAPES EXTENDING BEYOUND THE EXTREMITIES OF SAID PANEL; AND A SHEET OF STIFFENING MATEIAL POSITIONED BETWEEN THE LOWER FRONT AND BACK PORTIONS. 